A deadly crash on Route 40

One dies, one injured in two-vehicle accident

MANLIUS — The investigation continues into a Wednesday traffic crash that claimed the life of a Bureau County woman.

Bureau County Coroner Janice Wamhoff said Lisa A. Boehle, 48, of Princeton was killed in a car/semi-truck crash that occurred about 5 p.m. Wednesday on Route 40, north of Interstate 80. Wamhoff pronounced Boehle dead at the scene at 5:30 p.m.

The driver of the car was taken by ambulance to Perry Memorial Hospital in Princeton and then lifeflighted to OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria. The driver of the semi-truck was not injured, Wamhoff said.

According to a Bureau County Sheriff’s Department report issued Thursday morning, Boehle was a passenger in a 2007 Chevy Impala car driven by Carol K. Headley, 63, of Princeton. The vehicle was traveling eastbound on 1745 North Avenue and entered into the intersection with Route 40 in western Bureau County. The car stopped in the intersection and was struck by a northbound semi-truck driven by Zachary J. Schmidt, 31, of Maquoketa, Iowa.

Schmidt told authorities he was going northbound on Route 40 when a car traveling eastbound on 1745 North Avenue stopped in the intersection. He tried to avoid striking the vehicle but was unable to do so, Schmidt said.

A witness to the crash said she was driving southbound on Route 40 when she observed the Impala go out into the intersection and stop. The witness said she had to drive around the car in order to avoid the crash. She saw the semi-truck strike the car and stop.

Headley was ticketed for failure to stop and yield in traffic.

An autopsy was conducted Thursday on Boehle, and it was determined Boehle died of trauma from the crash. An inquest into the death is pending, Wamhoff said.